Iran defeats Uzbekistan to move one step closer to 2018 World Cup

Iran's national football team defeated Uzbekistan's national team 1-0 in Bunyodkor Stadium in Tashkent on Thursday October 6, 2016 in the third round qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Uzbekistan came into the match after 1-0 wins over Syria and Qatar, but thanks to Jalal Hosseini's 27' goal, Carlos Queiroz's team picked up their seventh point in three games to remain undefeated so far.

"I think we deserved this victory," said Queiroz.

"Uzbekistan also played well, but they controlled the ball in their area; we tried to go on the counterattack when we took ball,' he added.

Iran National Football Team

Uzbekistan went into the game without captain Odil Akhmedov due to his inability to recover from injury, while Queiroz made a raft of changes to his midfield and attack with an eye on the crunch match with Korea Republic on Tuesday.

One of those changes, Reza Goochannejhad, could have opened the scoring inside 10 minutes but he sliced his volley high and wide after he was picked out inside the area by full-back Ramin Rezaeian's fine cross.